Wednesday, March 14, 2012

{DIY} Chalkboard Wall Calendar - Pinterest Challenge

When these girls......

.....announced it was time for another Pinterest Challenge........

I knew exactly what I wanted to do! As you know I'm working on creating a mudroom out of this hallway. You can read about my plans to make this happen here, but just to jog your memory here's a picture to give you an idea of what I'm working with here.

The closet doors will be coming down, but even still because it is such a narrow hallway I didn't want to put any hooks on the blank wall. I did want to do something special with that wall though. With two active, school aged kids we. are. busy. - like busier than we've ever been. There's always a practice, a game, a birthday party, a book report due, and the list goes on. Add to that my hub doesn't work a typical 9 to 5 job, so I have to keep up with his schedule too. Anyhow, to make a long story short I wanted to put a family calendar in our mudroom space, where we will all see it as we're coming and going. We desperately needed something to help us manage our daily chaos! I've never been good at keeping important dates and reminders on my iPhone, so having a calendar I can write things down on was really key for me.

I found some great inspiration via Pinterest for wall calendars!

This one is from none other than the Queen of Organization herself - Martha Stewart.

This one is similar to Martha's, but it's done with chalkboard contact paper/vinyl instead of chalkboard paint.

I liked both of these versions, but I really wanted something BIGGER. I combined the two inspiring ideas and came up with my own much LARGER version!

Yeah, that's right - it's a whole dang wall y'all! I'm in LOVE with it - I've been calling it "the motherboard of the house" - ha!

Want to make one? It's so easy (a little bit time consuming, but so worthwhile)!

Uh-huh, I busted out the markers and crayons. I measured the wall from the bottom of the crown molding to the top of the baseboard. Then I did a little math (if I can do it, you can do it). The blue lines represent the tape lines. You will want to be sure to take the width of the tape into consideration when you're calculating the spacing. The tape I used had a 1 inch width. Drawing the plan out on paper really makes it all very easy to understand, so definitely do not skip this step. And keep in mind that your drawing doesn't need to be drawn to scale. Once you have a plan, you're ready for step 2.

I prefer to use a foam roller when I'm painting a chalkboard surface. I like the smooth finish it gives the paint. This was my first time using the Scotch Blue Edge Lock tape, and I didn't think it did any better than the Frog Tape I typically use. I guess that's just a personal preference.

The most time consuming part of the project is the taping.

I used the measuring tape and followed my plan. (After I finished taping, I had a couple of holes to patch from things that used to hang on this wall which is why you see a little paint on the tape lines in the above photo. )

* Here's a helpful little tip that helps to save time when you're taping lines: Instead of drawing full lines, make little dots every few inches and just run the tape connecting the dots.

The last step is the easiest!

It took 3 coats. I started pulling the tape off before the last coat was dry. I did have to touch up the lines in a few areas, but overall the tape gave me nice crisp lines.

I primed and painted the light switch so it would blend in with the wall.

I have not attempted anything with chalkboard paint in the house yet but probably soon - I know, it is crazy! Carmel, what did you use for the lettering (days of the week)? This is fantastic - perfectly utilitarian and it looks good, too. Room for everyone to add their schedule in.

So far so good - no erasing going on with the kids. They really like seeing their activities up there so they know what we're doing for the day. I'm pretty short (5'3") so reaching the bottom row to write isn't difficult for me.

Making sure there's room for everyone's schedule is exactly why I wanted something so BIG. My regular sized calendars were never big enough -I'd have to write so small to fit everything in and then I could never read my own writing.

Shut the back door. You are kidding me. Come on. I am frantically looking for a gigantic wall for my new calendar but alas I am out of space. You rock it up and down and all the way around. Tweeting this up right now!

LLLLOOOOVVVEEEE!!! (in my oprah voice) -- you know I love to do everything big, and this is perfection for the wall! And the great thing is, it's just paint and can be 'taken down' so easily. That is the perfect mother board! Thanks for linking up!

This is a must have with four kids and I really want to do this but I am currently renting a house so I can't do anything permanent or major. How easy is this to get off or does anyone know if they make roll out/stick on chalk board?

I love this! I love anything that has to do with chalk board paint but this is amazing. We have a tiny calendar in our office where we write down stuff but now I am looking around seeing where I could do this. I am sure you are loving it.

Great job! I painted a chalkboard wall back in October, that I absolutely LOVE. But I have one problem.....it does not erase well at all. Any suggestions? I did not realize you needed to "prime" the wall after painting by rubbing chalk all over it. Is that my problem?Would love anyone's suggestions that have had this same issue.

Tamika - yes the priming by rubbing the chalk all over it is the reason the wall isn't erasing. I didn't cover that in the post above because I've gone over that in other posts where I've used chalkboard paint. You may want to wipe your wall down with a wet rag to erase and then do that priming thing to see if that helps with the erasability. If that doesn't help you may need to give it a very light fresh coat of paint.

Also- are you using regular chalk or chalk markers? I ask because chalk markers don't erase well no matter how well primed your surface is.

I LOVE this idea!!! I wish I had a long hallway to make in to a Mudroom!!! I am kind of obsessed with Chalkboard Paint!! I painted my pantry door in it for a weekly menu planner and I am about to paint the bottom half of my playroom in it for the kids to go to town!

I just found this on pintrest and I am in love. I am going to do this in the Breakfast nook of our 1905 home in between the kitchen and dining room. It will be perfect for meal planning, my husband's work schedule, and my mommy errands. I taped up one calendar week and test drove it. I'm sold. The room is the absolute perfect length for it and everything I wrote down as honey do's got done!! I'm ready to sand out the imperfections in the plaster wall and get to painting!

Wow, what a cool idea. Love the graphic look to it & the functionality.

Time Saving Tip: An easy way to make sure all the lines are straight is to use a laser wall level. They're only about $10-20. You'd just have to measure where the lines need to go, and then shoot the laser across the wall on that mark & stick the tape's edge along it.

This is a fantastic idea! I love the over-sized scale. We are a die-hard dry erase family. I bet I could do this on one of my colored walls with the dry-erase paint too. I'm so inspired! Thanks for sharing!

LOVE IT! I am now inspired to do something with my big wall. I thing I'm just going to paint the entire wall with a smaller calendar and place to leave notes to each other.Thank you for the inspiration :)

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Hello! Just wanted to stop by to say thank you for the great post! I found this on Pinterest and we decided to go for it! I tried the grid, but I'm so bad at straight lines, we ended up doing a solid wall. If it weren't for your post though, I would have never thought I could do it. Here's a link to my result if you are interested! Take care!

I do not have a crafty bone in my body....I LOVE your calendar!! You're AMAZING!! After a couple of years it's still THE BEST on the web! I was wondering what comes to mind if I ask you how you would do one that BIG but with white board squares and leaving room for a long check off list of daily duties for 5 kids?

Awesome! You found a great place for your wall calendar, right in the middle of family traffic. It makes sense, due to your mudroom plans (done by now) being in the same area. My family isn't as busy, and I will adjust accordingly, but I'm gonna copy this idea--thanks!

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